Chicken or Turkey Pot Pie - Great for leftover Turkey or Chicken

Recipe Title:  Chicken or Turkey Pot Pie - Great for leftover Turkey 

(**please look at the end of this recipe for gluten free options to this recipe)

By: Miriam Borys Busby

Yield: 6 

Ingredients:

pastry (see recipe below OR buy ready-made pastry)

4 tbsp. butter

1 large white onion

4 carrots

4 garlic cloves

2 cups peas (frozen will do)

10 small baby potatoes (optional but not necessary)

3 cups chicken stock*

1 cup white wine

1/2 cup flour 

4 cups leftover chicken (no bones) or turkey - dice into small pieces 

1 cup washed and diced parsley

cracked pepper (to taste but I used about 1/2 tsp.)

1 tbsp. Franks hot sauce

Pre-heat oven to 375 ° F (190° C)

Procedure:

Melt butter slowly in a large pot on the stove top.

Peel and dice onion. Add to melted butter to start the sautéing process.

Peel carrots and dice the same size as the onions. Add carrots to the cooking onions and continue to sauté until onions and carrots are tender (approx. 15 minutes)

Meanwhile make the pastry (see recipe below) and wrap well with parchment or plastic and store in the fridge until needed.

Once the carrots and onion are tender add garlic. Cook for 2 minutes.

With the heat still on medium add flour to carrots, onions and garlic to coat all the vegetables.

Add white wine while continually stirring. Add stock and stir while cooking on a higher heat now.

Add cut up chicken (or turkey), peas and parsley to the cooking chicken stock and vegetables.

Bring up to the boiling point and immediately reduce heat and allow to simmer on medium until the mixture thickens.

If potatoes are your favourite, wash and  cut up baby potatoes and cook in water on stove top until half tender. Once cooked add to the bottom of your casserole dish. This step is not necessary but adds to the heartiness of your recipe.

When the chicken mixture is thickened pour into a large casserole dish. Stir to include potatoes if using.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface. Ensure the pastry size is 2 inches larger on all edges than your casserole dish as you do want to fold back the pastry for a nice edge. Fold pastry in half for easy handling and cut steam slits on the fold.  This allows the steam to escape while cooking in the oven.

Carefully place the pastry over the hot chicken mixture in the casserole dish keeping the excess pastry in place. Fold all edges under and into the casserole dish to allow for a thick delicious crust. Finger flute the crust for a nice presentation.

Immediately place into a pre-heated oven and bake for 50 minutes.

Once baked remove from the oven and allow to stand for 10-20 minutes before serving.

Serve with your favourite tossed salad or all by itself.  

This is such a great leftover recipe and a real crowd pleaser.

 

cooking chicken mixture on the stove top first

roll out pastry larger than our casserole dish and make slits in fold for steam holes

use a large casserole dish for baking this recipe

allow to rest after baking before serving

I always have this product in the fridge for when I don't have time to make chicken stock
or I don't have store-bought stock on hand

Easy to Make Pastry

1/2 lb. (1 cup) all vegetable shortening 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 egg

2 tbsp. white vinegar

cold water to make up to 3/4 cup of liquid including the egg and vinegar

Mix together flour and salt in a large bowl. 

Cut up shortening into small cubes and add to flour mixture. With a knife or a pastry blender start cutting the shortening in to the flour until all the shortening is dime size and mealy. Do not over mix.

Add vinegar and egg to liquid measure cup. Beat with a fork.

Add enough ice cold water to egg/vinegar mixture to make a total of 3/4 cup of liquid

Add liquid to mixing bowl and with a fork mix liquid in. Do not over mix at this stage or your pastry will be tough. Gently form into a ball with your hand. It is not necessary to get all the flour off the bowl.

Wrap in parchment paper or plastic and store in fridge until needed.

*chicken stock can be made with water and  bouillon if you do not have chicken stock on hand. I keep in my fridge a jar of 'Better than Bouillon' which is a concentrated chicken base that you can add to water. Very convenient for these types of recipe. Even though I used the reduced sodium bouillon it is still very salty and so no salt is needed for this recipe.

** Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie
use a store bought gluten-free pastry OR  I used mashed potatoes for this recipe for our friend John Tilley who is gluten intolerant. When making the chicken filling I used potato starch instead of flour. The recipe either way is delicious. 

Chef Miriam Borys Busby, B.Ed., MA.
'Cooking Uncovered'
http://www.youtube.com/user/mlborys?feature=mhee
blog: www.cookinguncovered.blogspot.com
Website: www.miriamborys.com